The Long March 2D rocket lifts-off carrying its payload to orbit. Courtesy of Xinhua/ Wang Heng
At 2315 GMT on 20 September a Long March 2D (CZ-2D) rocket lifted-off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. The rocket carried the Yunhai 1-03 satellite to LEO.
This satellite is the third in a series of meteorological satellites utilised by the China Academy of Sciences (CAS). In local reporting the spacecraft are described as “environment detection” units for the purposes of detecting the atmospheric, marine, and space environments as well as disaster prevention and mitigation, and scientific experiments.
The Yunhai 1-03spacecraft reportedly uses GNSS satellite signal occultation techniques for its atmospheric measurements.
